Tag Archives: washington

I had a really rough day yesterday at work. Nothing really bad, just busy and stressful. So, I went home and had dinner. Then I flopped down on my bed and curled up under the covers and felt sorry for myself. So much for the gym.

Then I decided that I needed to get out of the house. This was maybe at 930pm. I sent a friend of mine a Facebook message and asked him to meet me down the street. We went to my favorite little place, Busboys and Poets, and talked for a bit.

I walked both to the restaurant and back home even though my friend offered me a ride. I guess I just needed to blow off some steam.

Then this am, I had plans to meet my brother and niece in DC to go to the museums. Of course, bugs were the main item on the agenda and the Natural History Museum has a great bug display, the irony of its sponsor being Orkin not withstanding. She had to go visit the bees again. We tried to get her interested in seeing the butterflies, but no. Spiders and bees were foremost on her agenda.

We also walked around the butterfly garden outside and looked at the pretty flowers and we took a short walk through the sculpture garden as well. Then we went to the Air & Space Museum so she could have lunch at “Old MacDonald’s.” They normally don’t feed her McD’s, but she does like their chicken nuggets. She has a ton of food allergies and the nuggets are the only thing there she can eat. My brother says that’s because the nuggets are not really food. I agree.

Then my brother and I went back to my neighborhood and went to Cheesetique. We had a cheese board and he had a glass of port and the key lime pie. I have been a big Cheesetique fan since they came to Shirlington. Apparently their first store is in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria. I have taken cheese to my brother’s for holidays and stuff, but this was his first time eating in the restaurant. It’s a small store, but the atmosphere is awesome. The food is so good. He was quite impressed and bought some of his own cheese to take home.

I think he was getting a bit tired of always going to Busboys when he comes to visit. The food there is great too, but it’s nice to get out and try something different. We have gone to the Mexican place several times, and it’s awesome, but we needed to do something else. Shirlington has lots of great choices.

Now, if I could just get a hold of my sister, I could get a visit with her in today. In the meantime, I am going to write and then hit the gym.

It’s nice to get back into my normal routine of museum jaunts and visits with my family. I love being able to do these things. My life has really made a complete 180 from where I was 9 1/2 months ago. I can hop on the metro, go hang out on the Mall at the Sculpture Garden and listen to jazz with my friends, walk all over the Mall going to the museums with my brother and niece, go to the gym, go shopping at the mall with my sister, and walk down the street to my neighborhood to walk around or just hang out at a coffee shop. Before last October, I could not have done any of this, at least not easily. Now I don’t even think about it. I just put on my walking shoes and go.

The choice to have the surgery was a difficult one for me, but I’m glad I did it. The quality of my life has completely changed. It happened so quickly, I can hardly believe it sometimes. And yet, the person I was before seems so far away I don’t even know who that was. Well, whoever that was is gone and I love who I am now.

Going to the same museum over and over to look at bees with a 5-year-old, eating at a new restaurant with my brother, and shopping at a mall with my sister may seem routine and mundane, but I love that I can do it. I wouldn’t trade a moment of it for anything.

This past week has been fantastic. Every day I am more and more amazed at what I can do, thanks to my 112 pound weight loss, which seems to have stalled-out recently. At least I’m holding strong though and not going back up!

As I posted yesterday, my friends Liz & Steve have been visiting. Well, yesterday, they went to the Smithsonian Museums with their girls. I work in DC about 4 stops from the museums metro station, which is conveniently called Smithsonian. I walked the 5 blocks to Farragut West, got myself turned around because I do not often go to that station. Hopped off at the Smithsonian Station and walked over to the Air and Space Museum, which had just closed for the day, and waited outside for my friends. Then we took the metro and bus back to my hood where they were having a jazz concert/wine tasting and dined at the inimitable Busboys & Poets.

Then we walked around Shirlington some more. My friends bought some cheese from Cheesetique. And we walked back up the hill to my apartment.

A year ago, I could not have done all of this walking. I would have gone home from work, probably by car. Then I would have waited at my apartment for my friends to call me. I would have had to drive the 4 blocks to the restaurant, parked, ate, and then drive back home. I would have been in horrible pain, have difficulty breathing, and would have been just miserable.

Today, I think nothing of aimlessly wandering all over the darn place. Plus, I was able to enjoy jazz, good friends, and good food! I truly feel as if my life has been rebooted.